2 page Case Study - Posted 8/18/2008
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Steep Growth Path and Constant Change Drive Infrastructure Upgrade
Vineyard Music Productions, riding a steep growth curve in an expanding market, depends on project teams that are highly collaborative and constantly changing. It plans to deploy Windows® Essential Business Server 2008 beta software to accelerate critical IT tasks and lay a foundation for the growth ahead—all while reducing the burden of IT management.
Business Needs
Vineyard Music Productions is a case study on how to manage an environment of constant change and rapid growth. The company produces custom original music in the smooth jazz genre for private label sale—a market that spans multiple retail sectors and is growing considerably. Large retailers and cable shopping networks are finding that private label music carries excellent margins, is easy to merchandise, and can help build their brand. Smaller lifestyle-oriented businesses, such as vineyards and resorts, use the high-quality offerings to enhance their customers’ experience and drive incremental sales.
Vineyard’s President, Bryan Lubeck, traded a (relatively) quiet life as a respected jazz performer to build this complicated, dynamic enterprise. The business is project-driven: private-label CDs, broadcast documentaries, and concert series are all typical engagements. It’s not unusual for any given project to involve 50 or more virtual employees. “A project team could include musicians, producers, technicians, PR specialists, and graphic designers,” explains Lubeck, “all employed on a temporary basis.” As a virtual organization with constantly changing staff, Vineyard must be able to quickly and fully integrate new people into the organization, particularly its IT systems. “We need to integrate new staff members easily and get them connected to each other,” says Lubeck. “We don’t have a lot of resources—either time or people—to dedicate to our network tools.” At the same time, team members can be located anywhere in the world, so remote access is critical.
Solution
To manage this constant influx of new team members efficiently and effectively, Vineyard is planning to deploy the beta edition of Windows® Essential Business Server 2008. “We need an infrastructure that allows us to empower new employees quickly and without a lot of hassle,” notes Lubeck. “It also needs to be stable, easy to manage, and cost-effective.” Windows Essential Business Server 2008 combines software for the server operating system, management, messaging, and security into an all-in-one integrated solution with unique features that help midsize businesses increase the manageability and reliability of their IT systems.
Lubeck believes that the contrast with his existing infrastructure will be substantial. “We currently rely on our Web hosting provider for most of our resources, and the experience is not good,” he explains. “Support is not good, we have no control over upgrades or downtime, and we spend hours on the phone trying to manage it.” The new software will allow Vineyard to bring its infrastructure in-house without creating a large IT management burden. “This solution will give us the sophisticated tools we need, in a package that’s easy to manage and cost-effective. By deploying Windows Essential Business Server 2008, we’ll be going from covered wagons to state of the art.”
Benefits
Lubeck sees the upgrade to Windows Essential Business Server 2008 as a key enabler of growth for Vineyard Music Productions. “We’re not about IT; we’re about creating and distributing great music,” he explains. “The more we grow, the more we need the ability to efficiently manage our projects and our peoples’ access to data and to each other.”
Streamlined processes and better access to data. The system will allow Vineyard to quickly add team members and give them the tools they need to contribute. “Everything will be easier to manage than it is now,” says Lubeck. In addition, the solution will centralize Vineyard’s data and give employees much better access. With Remote Web Workplace capabilities, team members will be able to access proposals and plans more quickly while traveling with their mobile devices, which will increase the company’s ability to respond to customers and opportunities. “Overall, we’ll be able to get more done in less time,” says Lubeck. “I expect the ROI to be significant.”
Management of the solution is also simplified—the Windows Essential Business Server Administration Console will quickly tell Vineyard and its technology vendor the status of all components, and flag any items that need attention.
Strengthened network security and protection of business assets. Lubeck rates Vineyard’s current security as “three on a scale of ten.” As the business grows, the company increasingly works with partners, such as major retailers, that require robust security controls. “We don’t have the automated security tools that make security tasks easy,” he explains. “Password management is difficult and many administrative tasks just don’t happen.”
Vineyard’s technology provider concurred. “It became evident to us very early that Vineyard Music Productions needs to protect the music as it’s being worked on by various external team members,” notes Ric Opal, Vice President of Peters & Associates. “Vineyard’s data and intellectual property is the music. Windows Essential Business Server is the perfect vehicle to allow them the flexibility to be creative and make music with peace of mind, knowing the music is safe until it is ready for public distribution.” Windows Essential Business Server 2008 establishes a highly secure infrastructure, which is by default set up according to Microsoft best practices and includes Windows Server 2008, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, and Forefront Threat Management Gateway (Medium Business Edition) technologies. It reduces security issues while it automates security management tasks. “Peoples’ livelihoods—from our artists to our vendors to our customers—depend on a significant level of security,” Lubeck notes. “This solution will give us an environment where we don’t stay awake at night worrying about it.”
Improved ability to grow. Vineyard Music Productions is on a steep growth curve, with no slowdown in sight. Windows Essential Business Server 2008 provides an infrastructure that can grow with the company. “We’ll be able to add people to the organization much more easily—that’s today’s urgent need,” explains Lubeck. “But soon, we’ll need to add new CRM and accounting applications, and this solution will make the integration of those tools straightforward.” Even when the company grows large enough to add an in-house IT staff, the new system will meet the increasing demands smoothly. “We’re investing in an infrastructure that we won’t have to rework constantly as we grow,” says Lubeck.
Windows Essential Server Solutions Windows Essential Business Server 2008 is part of the Windows Essential Server Solutions family, designed to help small and midsize businesses boost productivity and growth. Based on the latest innovations, Windows Essential Server Solutions dramatically simplify the deployment, ongoing management, and use of server technology. For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/ebs
